Hurricane Hunters is a resource to find photos and data from past hurricanes. Hurricanes and data are archived by year. Find photos from above a hurricane with logs and information from the planes that follow the storms. Research more information about science and meteorology by using the multitude of links provided. Real time data of current storm conditions in the world are available on the website. View spectacular photos in the "Photos" section or click on "Questions" to read the most often asked questions and their answers. In the "Questions" is a link to a cyberflight that walks through the before, during, and after of a Hurricane Hunter flight. This site is mostly text and pictures.

A link to a "Hurricane Hunters Gift shop" is found on the main page and students should be advised to avoid such an advertisement. The site requires Flash for storm updates. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Compare numbers of hurricanes of various years. Plot locations, and storm paths on the same chart (or in Google Earth) to determine the origination point and landfall or end point of the hurricanes to draw conclusions. Use the information to determine the physical characteristics of the hurricanes (instead of looking them up in an encyclopedia). Determine the areas of the world where hurricanes occur in order to understand factors responsible for hurricane formation. Have students track a current hurricane and use information learned on this site to predict the spot where it will make landfall and provide reasoning for their choice.

How many severe weather events occurred in 2001? How much did the damage and clean up cost? Use this site to obtain monetary damages and numbers of events for "Hurricanes," "Floods," Tornadoes," "Lightning," and "others." Data is given both in table and chart form and is sorted by state.

In the Classroom

Use the data to determine where most severe weather events occur and to determine why they occur in those areas. Research the science behind the events and reasons for the devastation. Have students create an action plan in the event of severe weather or identify ways to lessen devastating effects of some of the events. Students can also research recent year's data and make comparisons of the numbers.

Here's a planet-by-planet introduction to the solar system which features stunning photographs and supporting content. If you are thinking that there are eight planets and not nine, you are right, and the website points out that fact. This continually-updated site has much of the latest research on all planets, moons, and other bodies in our solar system. This site goes beyond the pictures that are courtesy of NASA as well as the information learned from countless missions. The site also provides insight into how to view planets with binoculars and other materials as well as information on mythology and history. View the movies provided and listen to the recorded sounds. Gain a renewed appreciation of the solar system using this informative site. This site does include some advertising. But it is not distracting from the great content.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Want to find updated information about the objects in the solar system? Have your students use this site. Divide your students into groups and have them report on a particular object in the solar system. Have them present a report on one of the 8 planets, as though teaching their peers. Have students create a multimedia presentation using UtellStory, reviewed here. This site allows users to narrate a picture. Challenge students to find a photo (legally permitted to be reproduced), and then narrate the photo as if it is a news report. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try PhotoPin, reviewed here.Consider making a class wiki about the solar system and including drawings or photos your students might create from their observations.

The Mars Rover is providing information continually. Use this site to keep track of recent findings, developments, and understandings from the Mars Rover. This site appears as a series of news articles listed in reverse chronological order along with their abstracts. Click on each newsworthy item to learn more information. Additional links are provided in each article. A Spaceref directory can be found that links to additional Mars related topics on the Spacref.com website. There are some advertisements at this website.

This site is an interactive computer program designed to introduce the concepts of how an earthquake epicenter is located and how the Richter magnitude of an earthquake is determined. Choose "Demonstration" for background information. View the demonstrations of "Travel Time" and "Epi and Mag" to learn more about earthquakes and how to use the tools. By using the demonstrations, students create data that is graphed and can be analyzed. Problems are presented to the students to determine the epicenter of a specific event. If you wish to not use the demonstration, click on the animations to learn about "SP lag time" and "Latitude and Longitude." Instructors can also register for free on the site and students can take an exam when completed with the activity. Exams will be graded and results reported to the teacher. Click "Instructions" to walk through the registration and use. This site requires Java and Flash. Click the "System Requirements" button to test these programs on your computer before proceeding. If you need Java or Flash, you can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.
NOTE: the site opens slowly. Please be patient, and be sure to check the technical requirements.

In the Classroom

Use the data to determine epicenter as well as the magnitude of an event. Use data from other sources to determine the same. Use this demo on your interactive whiteboard or projector after discussing specific information about earthquakes and part of a final project. Use the simulations to learn more about how scientists determine where earthquakes start.

Want to find more information about Earthquakes? Use the Understanding Earthquakes site to take a small "Quiz," use the rotating "Globe" to view earthquake locations, and read of first hand "Accounts" from a person's perspective. View how earthquakes occur by clicking on "Rebound," or the "History" of past earthquakes since 1910, as well as other informational sites linked in "Others." Site requires Java and Flash. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Use the information as an introductory activity to disasters. Use the data to identify common places where earthquakes occur, research the different types of faults, provide information of the various earthquakes and locations affected, or as a springboard for individual or class projects. Note that much of the information is text-heavy, so younger readers will need assistance reading.

What do we see and what can we learn from the Sea floor? Use the Interactive map or the drop down along the top to access past expeditions to the sea floor. Click on the "Dive Into Deeper Discovery" tab to learn more about Deep Ocean Circulation, History of the Earth, Ice Ages, Ships and Technology, among others. Click the "For Teachers" tab to access and view classroom activities to use. The site is updated daily with photos, videos, and research. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Use a single activity, have students collect information as homework, or a class project. Use these activities as an introduction to a science lesson or for application for information learned in class. Some activities have a hands-on component. Create a timeline of information, technology, or history from the dives. Have students use the scientific method to analyze work completed during the dives. Research background science and engineering topics for better understanding of information learned during the explorations. Topics for reports can be found throughout the information. The class can be divided into groups to report on specific aspects of the dive and their information can be reported to the class with the additional background information. Students can keep a journal of information learned and create a poster or model of the information.

The Smackdown is a challenge that pits two cities sustainable practices against each other. By choosing two cities, selected from a list of several in Canada, the goal of the Smackdown is to compare and contrast them to each other using statistics taken from population, labor, housing, water and waste, community, environment, and green mobility to see which community is more sustainable. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Incorporate these comparisons into lessons based on going green, sustainability, and environmental characteristics. Allow students to predict the Smackdown outcome(s) by selecting cities of their choice and predicting the sustainability success by using deductive reasoning about the characteristics of each city. Have students compile statistics from their own towns and surrounding areas, or "create" an imaginary class town with relevant statistics, in order to conduct their own personal Smackdown. Students can present their Smackdowns via Power Point presentations using various statistical graphs created in Excel.

Why raise funds on items that cause the Earth to frown? Your school fundraising becomes 'green' when you register at this site and start earning funds from eco-conscience shoppers. Your school earns 25% to 40% of all internet or catalog driven sales. (Read the site for details.) Greenraising supplies you with order forms and catalogs if you care to do a catalog drive. It sounds easy, and it definitely is green. TeachersFirst does not ordinarily mention fundraising sites, but the possibilities for a school service project looked interesting enough to list this one.

In the Classroom

This fundraising organization may be a prudent way to fund your school's wildlife or biology club. Why not kick-off this event near Earth Day? Also, teachers, you can coordinate your recycling and earth-loving lessons around this fundraiser.

Students are always fascinated and intrigued about animals that are extinct. Follow the actual work of paleontologists in this interactive site. Choose a fossil dig site to start from "Giant fish's last meal," "Deadly dinosaur duel," or "Dinosaur nest." Read introductions and background information about paleontology. Use the basic tools of paleontology to uncover fossil remains. Move the tools (hammer, pick, and brush) to areas you wish to use them. After clearing enough of the structures, the fossil will automatically be revealed. Move on to the view the steps for the preparation of the shipment of the fossil and the reporting of the findings .

Follow the links along the top to resources and lesson plans for all levels in pdf documents, pictures, movie trailers, and an interactive time line. This site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat. Get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page.

In the Classroom

Use this site to share information about fossil digs. Students can fit these animals into time lines of other animals discussed in class. Use during a unit about ecosystems and food chains as well as how the remains of fossils have become the fuels of today.

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The Library of Congress offers this searchable database of historical maps, which includes a large collection of city maps, maps of military battles and campaigns, maps related to transportation...more

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The Library of Congress offers this searchable database of historical maps, which includes a large collection of city maps, maps of military battles and campaigns, maps related to transportation and communication, and maps focused on exploration and discovery. Within each category, you can search geographically or by time period. Each map accessed can be navigated using a zoom feature for better viewing. Maps cover a wide range of national and international subjects.

In the Classroom

Teachers with interactive whiteboards or projectors will find these maps a natural companion to lessons involving history, geography, and cultural changes. Sometimes seeing a map drawn at the same time as the event under discussion can lend a whole new understanding of the culture of the people being studied. It's far more dramatic to imagine sailing into the unknown on a voyage of discovery while you look at the only maps available to those aboard.

Be sure to have students use the whiteboard tools to draw in their own "corrections" or annotations showing the movement of people or strategies used in battles. Since thee resources are in the public domain, you are allowed to copy them into your whiteboard software and keep the student annotations atop the maps, as well. The maps also make good visuals for "mock" blog entries by historical figures!

Give your students the skills to analyze and evaluate information with Intel's free "Showing Evidence tool." "Showing Evidence" provides a visual framework to help students learn how to construct well-reasoned arguments and prove their case with credible evidence. Students are prompted to consider the quality of the evidence and the strength of the evidence to support their claim. When an argument is complicated, the components of the tool help students think through justifying a claim.

This web-based tool is accompanied by detailed lesson plans designed for elementary, middle, and high school students. A variety of subject areas and projects are ready to adapt for the classroom or implement as-is. Explore the project ideas, instructional strategies, assessment tips, and research to help you plan a project of your own. Registration is free and creates a teacher workspace in which to build the class project. The password-protected workspace is accessed through the internet where students log on with the teacher-created ID, team ID, and password. Students can access the project workspace from home or though other Internet access points such as the public library.

Be sure to disable your popup blocker, as the site needs to show popup windows during the project. This site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat Reader. Get these tools from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Teachers can use the comprehensive tutorial to learn the features of the tool and use the workspace to practice with the tool. Take advantage of the detailed unit plans that provide usable handouts and student work samples. Or just browse through several shorter project descriptions for project ideas that suit your classroom.

Make a shortcut to this site on your desktop and student computer desktops for easy access. Use the "Showing Evidence "tool to explore themes such as why do we explore, what happens next, is everything we read true, and what is freedom? Have student teams stage debates using their visual diagrams to show their thinking processes to the class using an interactive whiteboard or projector.

Learn all about fossils and paleontology. For the online information and interactives, choose "Activities Online" from the left side navigation menu. Choose "Who moved the Body" to learn how dinosaur fossils are made and unearthed. Click on "What Am I" to learn how paleontologists determine the names of the bones and the dinosaur identified from a fossil. The "Fossil Field Guide" provides extensive information about many extinct animals, their ecology, characteristics, and where they used to live. The "Geologic Time line" on the right side allows you to explore the different geologic time periods and the organisms that would be found there. "Educational Resources" can be used to visit "Dinosaur Dig," to view frequently asked questions, play "Jurassic Jumble" for interactive puzzles (requires Java), view a slide show, or "Name that Reptile." The educational resources contain a large and varied amount of information that includes many other titles such as "The Science of Jurassic Park." ." Younger readers will need help with many of the text passages. Several printable resources are available and require Adobe PDF. This site requires Flash and Adobe Acrobat. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Students can use the information in the Fossil Field Guide to create dioramas, posters, or digital media by using Make Beliefs Comics to create a fictional story of the extinct animal. Students can also use this information to show adaptations of organisms or similarities and differences between them. The information can also be used to identify structures that are also present in today's animal kingdom. Create a class time line that stretches the room and plots the animals that were present during each time period.

Footprints Science consists of simulations and interactives on many key concepts that are difficult to visualize and understand in Science. The site offers purchase of different modules or the complete collection. Samples, however, are free to use. Biology samples include "DNA drag and drop," "Kidney animation," "Fertilisation animation," and "Breathing animation." Chemistry samples include "Periodic Table interactive activity," "States of matter animation," and "Atomic structure activity."Physics samples include "Forces animation," "Power Station animation," and "Phases of Moon animation." Coursework includes "Variables," "Planning," "Graph," and "Line of best fit." More animations and interactives for each subject are available. The items are designed to be used with instruction to make the concepts more engaging. Interactives use drag and drop labeling with immediate feedback and allow pausing to stop the animation. Quizzes and games are also available. Graphics are very well done and easy to see, making difficult concepts much easier to understand. Interactives can be viewed as a large screen. This site requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

The resource is an exciting add-on to teacher lessons and exceptional when used on an interactive whiteboard or projector. The samples can be used as a pre-lesson for students to obtain the general gist of the concept and brainstorm key points that they recognize from the simulation or interactive. Teachers can then use the student insights to discuss the content being presented and piece together the information. Teachers can also use the samples after original discussion of the content to reinforce material that students should learn and offer a visual representation of the topic. The simulation can also be used as reinforcement. Students can watch the simulation and then "explain the experiment" by putting the concept into their own words to demonstrate understanding.

The Wilderness Classroom Organization brings educational adventures into the classroom through on-line expeditions. Students can follow expeditions through the Amazon, Peru, Bahamas, and even dog sledding through Manitoba. The site provides archived experiences along with photos, expedition maps and notes from the trail. There are lesson plans, printable pages, standards, podcasts, video clips, and more. This website requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Use the downloadable lesson plans, printable pages, standards, and kid libraries to organize the unit in conjunction with the expedition. Follow upcoming expeditions in real time live in the classroom. Project the expeditions on an interactive whiteboard or screen. Allow students to participate in scheduled live chat sessions with the expedition members or e-mail them personally, using a class email account or student email within school policies.

The BBC has created a short, detailed, and interactive slideshow about volcanoes. The ten slides include information about the layers of the Earth, molten rock, magma, eruption clouds, lava, lahar, active volcanoes, Earth's plates, Ring of Fire, and more. The final slide displays a clickable map to learn about some of the larger and most destructive volcanoes throughout the world. This slideshow requires Flash. You can get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

This website is ideal for sharing on an interactive whiteboard or projection screen. Using the clickable map, divide your class into teams and have the teams take turns trying to figure out the continent, country, or body of water where the volcanoes are located. This makes the activity both a science and geography lesson.

Learn the powerful forces that shape and change the Earth. Dynamic Earth explores the Earth's Structures, Investigating Plate Tectonics, learning about Plates and Boundaries, and how the plates Slip, Slide, and Collide. Read the information provided, click on the Interactive pictures for more information, and test your knowledge in each section with interactive activities. In the end, test your skills using an online assessment. This website requires flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Use this site as an introduction to Geology or Earth Science or as a review of concepts previously learned in class. Use the site as a springboard for additional activities such as mapping where most earthquakes occur. Follow up with ways to prepare for earthquakes, design buildings to withstand earthquakes, or other important topics. If you have a class wiki, have students work in teams to share various aspects of earthquake knowledge for an audience of people living in an earthquake zone.

This unusual website is set up like a tile puzzle. The unique aspect of this website is that students work as an online team to complete the tile puzzle together. There could be 50 students from around the world working on the same puzzle, without ever communicating. Students click on any of the tiles to answer a question pertaining to the ocean, salt water, or freshwater. If they provide the correct answer, that tile is removed to reveal a piece of the picture. Hints are provided, and second changes are given. The goal of the activity is to move the tiles to reveal the "ocean" picture beneath the surface of the tiles. New puzzles appear frequently (as the puzzles are completed). This website also provides lesson plans relating to the ocean for grades 6-12. The lesson plans correlate with national science standards. You can find the lesson plans by clicking on the Education link. This activity requires FLASH. The lesson plans require Adobe Acrobat. You can get both from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Ideas abound for this motivating website! How about having your students work on individual computers and see how many tiles the class can "move" while working together. Or if individual computers aren't available, this website makes an excellent learning station or group activity using an interactive whiteboard (or projector). Use it as a thirty-second class starter during every day of your Oceans unit. Be aware - this activity is addicting! Your students may be begging to do this activity on a daily basis.

This website takes students on a virtual "rock hunt." Throughout the journey, students learn about the three main types of rock - sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous. Specific examples of each type of rock are highlighted. Other topics of interest include "How Rocks Change" and "The Rock Cycle Diagram." There are animations that demonstrate the effects of extreme heat or cold on a rock. Volcanoes are used to demonstrate some of the changes. Weathering, erosion, compacting, and cementing are also discussed. There are several interactive "rock" activities along the way. The final activity is a review "test" about the interactive "rock hunt." Many of the activities throughout the "rock hunt" require FLASH. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Wow! If your class is studying rocks and the rock cycle, do yourself (and your students) a favor and take advantage of this wonderful resource. Use your interactive whiteboard (or projector) to take your students on this virtual "rock" journey. This website would also work well as a learning station for cooperative learning groups. Why not set-up several stations all about rocks. Use this website as one station on a cluster of computers, have a "hands-on" rock center with examples of each type of rock and testing equipment, make a literature/research center with books about rocks and samples to identify. Other centers could include watching a short documentary on rocks and volcanoes, a lab-report writing station, and many others.

This phenomenal website provides twelve short videos about a variety of oceanography and marine biology topics. Specific video topics include: Predators Among Us, Hawaiian Hotspots, Maritime History, Shipwrecks of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary, A Polynesian Story, Saved by a Shark, Biodiversity, SPLASH: Monitoring Humpback Whales, Exploring Plate Tectonics, Volunteer Monitoring, Marine Protected Areas, and SIMoN Says. Each video is only a few minutes in length and could easily be incorporated into your lessons. This site requires Flash. Get it from the TeachersFirst Toolbox page..

In the Classroom

Use one of these videos (or several) as an anticipatory set for a science lesson on one of the topics, sharing the video on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Students will enjoy the "up close" look at the ocean and its many creatures. Or have students work in cooperative learning groups and choose one of the videos to view as a group. Have the groups share the information from their video clip. If you are looking for a science research project, why not assign one of the twelve topics to each of your students and have them further investigate the specific topic.